One thing seems very clear at this point: Bryan Singer is excited to be back in the world of the X-Men.

Little by little, Singer's been using social media to release sneak peeks behind the scenes as he's been preparing to begin production on "X-Men: Days Of Future Past," the latest chapter in an increasingly odd franchise that features plenty of digressions and a semi-reboot right in the middle of things. When Singer left the series, it was a difficult professional moment for him, and it also left Fox in the lurch unexpectedly. When it happened, I would have bet that there was no chance Singer would ever return to the series.

What makes this return especially exciting is how it looks like he's enjoying himself so much. I feel like Singer has been struggling to define himself more often than not over the course of his career. He made such a huge splash with "The Usual Suspects," and his first "X-Men" may have helped kick off the current new wave of superhero cinema, but he has still managed to evade any particular directorial voice, and it's actually somewhat frustrating. I don't think every filmmaker has to have a particular unique voice, but Singer is a guy who seems to want to be thought of as an auteur of sorts, and it doesn't feel like he's ever really figured out what it is that matters to him about the films he makes.

So even if he never figures that out, at least he can throw himself back into this particular world with a smile on his face and a sense of play. That joy seems to be spilling over into the way the cast is approaching their returns to these characters, and today, Singer Tweeted the following image of Halle Berry in her costume as Storm, complete with a reworked hairdo:

So are you guys getting excited about this one? Or at this point, do you take a "we'll see" attitude towards the superhero films at Fox? Let us hear from you, and remember..
"X-Men: Days Of Future Past" arrives in theaters July 18, 2014.

A respected critic and commentator for fifteen years, Drew McWeeny helped create the online film community as "Moriarty" at Ain't It Cool News, and now proudly leads two budding Film Nerds in their ongoing movie education.

It's still early days, but I haven't seen anything to convince me that Singer getting the band back together is a more desirable option than a thorough reboot (and servicing all of the characters they're including is going to be a steep hill to climb).

Ill admit I always thought that Singers take on Xmen was kind of weak, and the characters that got the most focus should not have clearly because of there real life counter parts. I think Singer focused too much on bringing these characters into the real world, and forgetting this is a comic book. But, I think he should be allowed to have another chance seeing as how he brought the superhero movie thing back to life(with the exception of Spiderman)and made the template for comic book movies. Hopefully he's had enough time to step back and see how he can make this a little more dirty.

Mainly because Matthew Vaughn's X-Men First Class outdid Singer's X-films in every single way.

Think back to X-Men and every part of X-2 that wasn't the school assault.

Those were a couple of stuffy, static, almost boring films. As we saw in the movie where Superman punches NOTHING, Singer isn't a big fan of allowing these mutants in his film to let their freak flag fly.

Whereas Vaughn enjoyed playing up the mutant powers, showing them off, and allowing the audience to enjoy seeing mutants in action.

If Vaughn were making this X-fim, we'd probably see Storm fly, for realsies. Because he's not afraid to get creative with the camera or the actors.

Bryan Singer... I love Apt Pupil, and The Usual Suspects, and most of X2, but the guy is simply not a dynamic filmmaker. Matthew Vaughn is.

That kind of sums it up nicely. I liked X-Men 2, however even then some of the mutants' powers were more set-pieces to show off once (largely in the school assault). Not sure if Singer deserves all the blame, however the characterizations of Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike were all wrong, and we never truly see Wolverine be as animalistic as he should have been. There was a lot done right in that movie, however the first two also arguably got a lot wrong. Ditto with Superman using his powers in fairly boring fashion (except the plane rescue) and the movie being a virtual remake of the first Superman movie. I like Singer better than most maybe (The Usual Suspects and X-Men 2 in particular), however I do see some limitations.

Vaughn impressed me. He took a franchise that I really could not have cared less about, and frankly a prequel/story that I was bored with, and made it work. There were great actors which tends to help, however so did X-Men 3. In First Class, the story and direction made it work despite my low expectations and dislike of prequels/reboots. It was just a good, solid movie.

I'm also in wait-and-see mode because, to be frank, it's FOX. They have a track record for screwing things up.

Before I clicked on the story, it appeared to me Storm had a MOHAWK! I got really excited!! What a brave choice! So when I saw the larger picture in the story, I became really disappointed. I havent see X3 in while but her hair looks the same. I'm back to "meh", until the first trailer and get a glimpse at what Singer is up too. I want to believe he pulled off the miracle of making sense of the X men movie universe.

Singer's films (with the exception of Jack the Giant Killer, which I haven't seen) are generally about outsiders who don't fit into mainstream society. You know... the whole gay thing? Helloooo, McFly? Could it be a little MORE obvious?

Halle Berry always got WAY too much screen time playing a thoroughly uninteresting version of Storm. So far removed from proud African queen-type. X3 was basically the Halle Berry/Hugh Jackman show, and I do mean the actors, not the characters, neither of which I really cared about in the whole of the trilogy. Too much focus on them was what really killed the third film for me.

I also agree with the above comments on the difference in film-making skills between Singer and Vaughn. I could never really put my finger on it before, but as soon as it was said, it really clicked. First Class had a severely problematic ending for me, very rushed and unbelievable, but the whole movie until then was very entertaining. I much rather see another Vaughn X-Men film, with mutants really showing off what they can do, and not another two hours of Jackman's muscles and Berry's freaking haircut.

I'm tired of Singer's X-verse. Given how convoluted all the characters and storylines are, along with how underwhelming the execution has been, I'm hopeful they'll scrap it all and start over. This will allow them to carefully plot out the X-verse like Marvel has done so that we can see multiple X-teams and characters shine in their own movies and "crossover" in a larger tentpole movie a la The Avengers.

My feelings for this situation is double minded. In one aspect I love Halle Berry and always have ever since she appeared to me in Catwoman. Then when I found out she was playing Storm, I was also very excited. Back then I loved her all too much to reconsider if another actress would play her better. Now that I am older and can see the true skill and techniques of things, like good role picking. I feel as though another actress may would have fit the role better or even as good as her. I also feel that she did as much as she could, but naturally should be replaced with someone who is younger and not in such a random and awkward situation. Awkward being because she is pregnant enough to show it and playing the role of Orora Monroe at the same time. In my view of the comics I noticed Storm getting more physical and down and dirty with the villains as the story progressed. And obviously because of Halle's situation, she may not be doing that this time around like she did a little in X men the Last Stand. So I was a little excited to hear her playing the role again, but now I am disappointed I will not get to see her get physical like she does so interestingly. As much as I love Halle Berry, I would have been happier to see a new younger and physically capable actress play the super hero that Halle Berry caused me to love.